Author: agapepete

The technology team I lead at Agapé has grown. Steve and I have been working alone but for the last month we’ve had Chris and Sarah working alongside us. Chris has joined the team full-time from our Agapé Family Life team. Sarah is volunteering with us for a few months. Here’s a photo of the team at work.

We’ve already been able to accomplish so much and I’m very grateful to the team and to God who has supplied more people just as the workload is about to increase lots!

CHRISTMAS IS COMING

Christmas seems to have arrived early in Birmingham. Over the weekend we’ve had an incredible amount of snow. However, I reckon it will have melted by Wednesday. Here’s a photo of my road.

For Christmas this year I will be staying with my parents and spending time with my family. I’m hopeful to avoid email between Christmas and the New Year! What are your plans this Christmas?

NEXT YEAR

I will drop a longer update in the New Year – I’ve already a number of overseas trips planned for the first quarter – I’ll let you know what they’re about in January.

For now, I just want to say thank you. Another year has passed and you’ve kept on supporting me in my role with Agapé. I just really appreciate your prayers and involvement in different ways. I am thankful.

The more I’m involved with technology within Agapé the more opportunities I have to use my skills for Kingdom purposes. Indigitous is a global community, co-founded by our global movement, which engages in ideas and each other to advance God’s Kingdom through innovation.

Once a year there is a global coordination of technology specialists to gather for a weekend to create and make a difference. Last year 1426 people gathered in 28 cities.

I’m going to join with the London gathering. We are partnering with two charities; Christians against Poverty (CAP) and Home for Good. CAP have set the challenge, “How can digital tools engage churches to serve the poor and save the lost in their local communities”. Home for Good have asked how they can better use digital tools to inspire people, support them in their fostering and adoption journey and enable them to be part of a growing movement. There are more detailed assignments so we’re not starting from an entirely blank sheet.

Although these projects are not related to Agapé we highly value partnership and collaboration, so it’s a pleasure to be part of this 48 hour, caffeine fuelled, event.

Sometimes the best laid out plans just don’t come to fruition. That was my experience last month when our trip to the US for the annual-ish Global Technology Leaders network was postponed at the last minute due to hurricane Irma.

Obviously the first priority is the safety of our staff, so it was a necessary call to make. However, on a practical level I was very disappointed we hadn’t been able to pull the event off. For Agapé UK, it wasn’t just about the core meeting, but all the meetings I had arranged on the side which would set the direction for the core technology Agapé would use in the next decade. As a consequence I’m now in lots of conversations where I simply can’t move our projects forward…

It’s hard to lead when I’m disappointed and frustrated. I feel a responsibility to cast vision and keep up the morale, but to be honest, I’ve frequently not felt like it.

Since, I’ve spend more time on video conferencing calls than I care to remember, often in different time zones. Collaborating across cultures is also an interesting thing to be learning. Sometimes my critique on a point is seen as negative, and sometime my absence is seen as an approval to the steps forward.

So I’ve been working through all that. The Global Technology Leaders meetings have been postponed to February so at least we can start to re-gather our plans.

To help us (Agapé UK) be effective in our mission we are at the start of replacing our financial tools and supporter databases. Agapé UK have had our current tools for the last decade, but, although we’ve installed most of the software updates over the years, we’ve found they are not helping us move forward in the current world. At the same time our global movement has experienced the same and we are therefore working together to adopt the same software on a global scale.

I was recently involved in 30 hours of video conferencing meetings reviewing our ‘business requirements’ for the tool we have selected. A lot of people were able to travel to one place but I was unable to travel. The photo shows me on the screen!

The Program Manager for Global Operations projects said, “Your endurance on WebEx was remarkable! Thank you for participating so extensively. Your input was valuable and your participation was a huge encouragement to all of us!”

Next week, for two weeks, I will be in the US to meet with the Global Technology Leaders network for our annual conference, and then staying on to discuss matters relating to Agapé UK.

Please pray for us. I want to be able to give our field staff and team leaders what they need to be effective. I also want to be able to serve our supporters well. Pray for a clear mind and great unity across the regions of the world.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

This is a really common bible passage within the Christian community. It’s been in my mind for the last few weeks. In the 1990’s there was even a popular song sung during church services which took its inspiration from this Psalm. I love mountains and I love being out in the countryside. There’s something about these open and large open spaces where it feels humans have had less influence and where it’s easier to sense the presence of our Creator.

It’s nice to imagine being on a mountain, lifting up my eyes, and communing with God. It’s even better to do it.

But is that what the writer means?

I was taking time out in a coffee shop in the early hours of the yesterday morning waiting for a friend to join me. This is usually a moment of oasis before we both need to go to our respective workplaces. In my mind were all the bigger projects, plan, issues and challenges my role brings. It felt overwhelming as my mind was arranging all the parts, shaping and re-shaping the project steps ahead. These felt like insurmountable mountains in front of me.

Then it clicked.

“I lift my eyes up to the mountains, where does my help come from”.

I was staring square at all the mountains my reality brings before me. These are the mountains. But still, where does my help come from.

“My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth”

The writer is not talking about escapism and wishing he was elsewhere. He’s not saying if only he was elsewhere he could escape and receive relief from his maker.

He’s making a declaration and declaring a truth. “I’m looking square at all the issues before me. My help comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth”

The Lord is with us as we face our mountains. He will help us.

Obviously, to add the disclaimer, he not saying that we will always get our way, he’s not saying he will always back our position, he’s not saying we will always win the argument and that he will help us do that. He is saying he will help us navigate and that he will be with us.

If you’ve not asked Jesus to be your LORD and Saviour in your life just yet, why wait, now is the time. He will be with you. As you face your mountains in life, He will help you. He’s the best person in my life.